Listing Subsets of Your
Documents

by Kendall Callas

You've probably seen that curious *.* pattern and wondered what it means. You'll
bump into that
funny but powerful phrase sooner or later whether you're using DOS, Windows, or UNIX.

In DOS and UNIX versions of WordPerfect, you'll see it when you first press the List
Files key
(F5): a message appears at the bottom left corner of your screen ­ "Dir
C:\DOCS\*.*" or
something similar. In WordPerfect For Windows, that "*.*" pattern also appears on the File
Open screen (F4 or Ctrl+O).

First of all, remember the general form of a filename: FILENAME.EXT ­ the
first part is
limited to 8 characters, joined by a period to an optional extension of up to 3 characters.

Each asterisk in the *.* patter is a wildcard like you're playing poker, deuces wild.
The first
asterisk means anything left of the period; the second asterisk means anything right of the
period.
So *.* matches the general "8.3" pattern and corresponds to any filename. When you press
Enter
(the normal response), you are agreeing to see *.* ­ a list of all the files.

If you're smart, you've named your files with extensions indicating the document type,
such as
.LTR, .FAX, .MMO, .PLD, .ROG, .LST, .POS, .P&A, etc. For example, the second
letter to Mr.
Smith might be named SMITH02.LTR.

When you want to see a list of just certain types of documents, save your eyes (and
your sanity)
and avoid the errors that can occur when scanning long lists. Type over or edit the *.* with
a
more specific phrase: *.FAX to list all your faxes, *.LTR to list your letters. Then press
Enter for
a convenient listing of just the files you need.

(This concept applies to all DOS, Windows, and UNIX versions of WordPerfect.)